Crying is a completely natural, human thing to do, yet people are almost immediately criticized after shedding a few tears. Girls are called emotional, and guys are called weak. People cry for different reasons and outsiders have no right to automatically assume what that reason is. We need to break this misconception that crying is representative of weakness. Crying is representative of a person who is filled with a vast array of emotions. We cry when we are happy, when we are angry, when we are heartbroken, when we watch movies, when we hear a song that we connect to. The list goes on and on. We cry for infinite reasons but are still afraid of the act itself. Why is that?

I think one of the reasons that people don’t want to be caught crying is because they are trying to remain strong. Maybe it’s for themselves, or maybe it’s for those around them. Maybe they are in denial or shock or are having regrets and second thoughts. Either way, they feel that holding in their tears will temporarily solve the problem. Holding in tears will not solve the problem, it will only make you feel worse. Sometimes, crying and letting out all of those bottled up emotions will make you feel so much better regardless of whether the situation has changed or not. In The Bad Beginning, Lemony Snicket writes, “...you know that a good, long session of weeping can often make you feel better, even if your circumstances have not changed one bit.”

We are so afraid of crying when we should feel 100% comfortable with it. If you are surrounded by people who judge you when you cry, you are not surrounded by the right people. You should be around people who will make you cry from laughing so hard, who will cry with you, and who will be there to dry your tears no matter what time of day it is. You need to be around comforting friends and family who will always be there when you need them the most.

Even though everyone cries, some people do it less than others. It may be because they are trying to be the ‘strong’ person or because they simply don’t feel the same way. They may even be an innocent bystander witnessing a stranger crying. No matter what the situation is we all have different reactions, and we need to respect other people who don’t express the same reactions. What one person may find sad, another may find funny. Some people might cry over something that is typically perceived as silly or minuscule. We may laugh at them or tell them to get over it, but we have no right to do this. What we think is not a big deal may mean the world to someone else. In the hopes that people will not feel ashamed or embarrassed to cry, we have to start showing the respect and comfort that we would want in return.